Thousands rally for gun rights
Firearms sales are up in Arizona amid pandemic
Supporters of the Second Amendment gathered Saturday at the Arizona Capitol to rally in support of the right to bear arms.
About 3,500 to 4,000 people attended the 8th annual event in downtown Phoenix to hear from more than 20 speakers and shop at booths selling gun-related shirts, hats, flags and educational items, according to Tim Rafferty, president of RidersUSA, the nonprofit that organized the event.
That attendance compares to last year’s rally, which was the largest for the organization at the time, Rafferty said.
Gun sales have increased significantly in Arizona during the COVID-19 pandemic, and so some speakers used their platform Saturday to encourage people to safely carry and use firearms and other weapons and to educate people on guns.
“Do you know how many new gun owners there are? And how many gun owners don’t vote the way you might vote?” John Correia, founder of Active Self Protection and a former pastor in Phoenix, said to the crowd.
Correia said now is the opportunity to educate and support others about gun ownership and advocacy even if you don’t agree on other issues.
“That firearm that you now own is an important piece of making sure no one can force you to do anything,” he said.
About 665,500 firearm background checks were conducted in Arizona last year, which is almost double the amount compared to the previous year, according to U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation data. Across the country, there were nearly 40 million firearm background checks last year — the most background checks recorded in one year since the FBI started keeping track in 1998.
In January, Arizona also had nearly double the amount of firearm background checks compared to January 2020, according to the FBI data.
Senator asks crowd to support gun bills
Saturday’s event was one of the first to draw a large crowd to downtown Phoenix since the numerous electionrelated protests that took place after
Nov. 3.
Most in attendance were not wearing masks as they crowded together on the Capitol lawn. The crowd cheered after a speaker said he supported the right to choose whether or not wear a mask.
State Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, encouraged the crowd to support firearm-related bills introduced in the Legislature this year, such as Senate Bill 1382, which would designate stores that sell guns and ammunition as essential businesses during a state of emergency.
Lawmakers have submitted at least 18 bills related to firearms, weapons and concealed carry this session. House Bill 2840, which allows adults to have loaded firearms in vehicles on school grounds, passed through the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Speakers encourage women to own guns
In addition to gun safety, many speakers at the event encouraged women to own and use firearms.
Sharon Estrada, who attended her first Second Amendment rally last year, told the crowd she grew up on military posts and was familiar with firearms, but didn’t become an advocate for guns until she researched more about the history of the laws.
“I am single, I am a mom, I’m an educator, I’m a Latina — probably not the first person who comes to mind when you think of second amendment advocacy,” Estrada said.
After last year’s rally, Estrada said she purchased her first firearm, got her concealed carry permit and attended as much training as she could while she continued learning about firearms.
She also started posting education about firearms on her social media and talked to other teachers who wanted to learn more.
“This was an opportunity for me to talk to other ladies about how important our right to protect ourselves and our family is and how dangerous it would be if that right was taken away and really, who would benefit from disarming us,”
Estrada said in her speech.
She also joined the DC Project, a nonpartisan group of women who try to educate lawmakers and others about firearms.
Karla Khaivilay, 29, a Phoenix resident and a U.S. Army veteran, said this was the first year she attended the Second Amendment rally.
“I think it’s really important, you have to defend your rights. Without the Second Amendment, we have no rights,” she said.
Coming from Mexico, where they have different gun laws, Khaivilay said that people sometimes take the Second Amendment for granted.
“I’ve seen what not being able to protect your property is like and it’s something that most people don’t appreciate here,” she said. “People that I surrounded myself with, they were scared of guns at first because they’ve never been around guns.”